


Crown

by Kimra



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Goofing Around, Howling Commandos - Freeform, M/M, Nazi mention, Pre-Slash, Steve is a softie, War, World War II, stolen art
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 17:34:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15935099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kimra/pseuds/Kimra
Summary: A nights rest stop in an old castle during WW2.





	Crown

The room is filled to the brim, paintings stacked against paintings, crates and crates of unfathomable priceless artefacts. Art that Steve has seen in books, things he’d dreamed he and Bucky would one day scrape together the money to travel and see. And they don’t belong in this old castle hall. Steve wants to carry it all out of there, with his own two hands, each piece of history waiting for the Nazi’s to take it to its next stop. He is torn between the overwhelming importance of everything in that room and his inability to so anything about it.

“What do you think?” Bucky draws his attention from the gold framed painting of the Virgin Mary he’s found himself stopped by. Steve turns to find Bucky standing further down the hall, arms spread wide, grin cheeky, and a golden crown perched at an angle on his brown hair.

Steve frowns. Bucky’s expression falters. Steve alters trajectory.

“Best king this castle’s ever seen.” He announces with all the surety needed _to keep Bucky grinning_.

Bucky brushes the front of his jacket eyes on the floor, then after a moment aims that grin back at Steve. “Damn right.” And then he goes back to riffling through the crate he’s pried open.

“You can’t-“ Steve frets, but Bucky’s feeling assured now and the grin is fixed in place and full of mischief.

“Steve,” he says, unable to make himself look as sincere as he’s pretending to be, “if we don’t take it the Nazi’s will.”

The problem is the logic is sound. There are moral grey choices in this war and Steve’s made and seen too many of them. He also knows that a lot of crimes have been committed with the same logic, but Bucky is smiling like he’s won the world, and nothing in this room is more valuable than a smile Steve keeps thinking he’ll never see again.

“I don’t know,” he scratches the stubble on his cheek, affecting his disappointed voice, “I think if anyone gets a crown, it’d be me.”

Bucky at first looks unsure, but when the words register he goes from ready-to-wheedle to outright delighted outrage.

“You?!” He squawks and puts a hand up to hold the gold circlet fiercely against his head. “You’d be a terrible king! Whereas I,” his grin hikes up on the left, his head tilted, eyes half hooded and Steve’s heart squeezes painfully, “I was born to wear a crown.” Bucky Barnes, the most dangerous man Steve has ever had the honour to be within the orbit of, drawls lazily. Steve does not think he will survive this war after all. “Besides,” Bucky’s fingers run across something else gold in the crate, “Steve,” his name is said slowly, carefully and Steve tries to breath and not be pulled into the deception. He’s not sure if Bucky even knows what he’s doing. His friend’s lips part and the grin all teeth and challenge, “I found it first!” -and Bucky takes off at a run.

Steve processes, feels the jolt in his chest and the adrenaline kick in, and then he gives chase though the dank corridors of a forgotten castle, in the middle of occupied territory.

When the Howlies find them they’ve collapsed, Steve more for the pleasure of closeness than the need to breath, on the stairs in the main entrance hall. Bucky still wearing his crown, pleased as a peach and looking at them all like the king he’s pretending he is. Steve lets him have this, wants him to have it, hopes he can have it longer than he can.

“Guess who just got promoted, boys?” Bucky declares, and after that it’s a mad scramble for the Howlies to discover what other treasures the room contains.

Tomorrow Steve will remind them that they can’t afford the extra weight in their packs when walking deeper into occupied territory, that they can’t save it, or keep it, or even hide it. Because tomorrow they have a job, and there are lives at stake that outweigh any of this history, any of this art, no matter how much he wishes he could do otherwise.

But for now, all of his friends laugh and cheer, and Bucky wears his crown with a spark in his eyes and leans heavily against Steve’s arm like this is where he wants to be.


End file.
